Former Committee Members of SDNQ

Obituaries for former Committee members of SDNQ (arranged A-Z by surname):

Obituary for Edward Harbin Bates Harbin (1862-1918) (SDNQ Vol. 16, p.121, January 1919)
The Rev. Prebendary E.H. Bates Harbin was born on August 27^th, 1862 and died on September 14^th, 1918. His comparatively early death is a great loss to the cause of Somerset Archaeology. He was a regular contributor to our pages and also to the Proceedings of Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society, of which Society he was President in 1910. Following the example of the late Mr John Batten, FSA, and after the death of his son, Mr Henry Batten, Mr Harbin used to invite the Committee of SDNQ, of which he was a member, to hold their Annual Meeting at his beautiful home at Newton and always hospitably entertained them to luncheon. A detailed account of his contributions to Somerset Literature will appear in the next volume of the Proceedings of the Archaeological Society.
He took his MA degree at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1890, was ordained deacon, 1889, and priest, 1890, at Peterborough and after serving the curacies of Craybrooke (Leics.) and Cucklington (Somerset) became rector of Puckington in 1898.
In 1909 he succeeded to the Newton estate, and at once actively interested himself in the work of the Church and Town of Yeovil. He frequently assisted the Vicar in the services at the parish church, and as JP for the county regularly took his seat on the Bench. He was a Governor of Woborne’s Almshouse at Yeovil and almost his last literary work was the examination and arrangement of the deeds belonging to that Charity. The present writer met Mr Bates (as he was then called), before he was ordained, at one of the Annual Meetings of the Somerset Archaeological Society (his name first appears in the list of Members in 1886) and since he went to Cucklington in 1894 has known him intimately.
Mr Harbin married on January 7^th, 1908, at Cricket St Thomas, Hilda Geraldine, third daughter of the late Sir Theodore Fry, Bart., who, with a daughter, survives him.
FREDERIC WILLIAM WEAVER.

Obituary for Hilda Geraldine Bates Harbin (née Fry) (1874-1962) (SDNQ Vol. 28, p.73. August 1962)
With the death in her 89^th year on 20^th July, 1962 of Hilda Geraldine Bates Harbin JP, Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset has lost one of its oldest and most valued subscribers. She was the third daughter and last surviving child by his first wife, Sophia Pease, of Sir Theodore Fry, Bart., MP, FSA, of Woodburn, Darlington. Following the death of her mother and her father’s second marriage, Miss Fry, as she then was known, decided to make a career for herself, becoming secretary to Miss Easton, Headmistress of Rochester High School. Later, when Miss Easton acquired a finishing school in Paris, Miss Fry went there with her, and it was expected that when Miss Easton’s French partner retired, Miss Fry would succeed her. But Miss Fry’s holiday visits to her uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Francis Fry, in Somerset were to lead to an alteration in her plans. It was while staying at Cricket St Thomas that she met the handsome and erudite Rector of Puckington, the Rev. E.H. Bates, whom she married in 1908. In 1909 Mr Bates inherited from an uncle the estate of Newton Surmaville near Yeovil, and thereupon assumed the name and arms of Harbin. Mrs Bates Harbin was able to share from the first her husband’s love for the beautiful Jacobean home of his ancestors. Her love for it, linked closely with her love for her husband, never forsook her and enabled her to maintain it until her death, despite the mounting difficulties of the mid-twentieth century.
Some modern improvements, including a bath and a telephone, had been installed at Newton shortly before 1909, but much still remained to be done. An inventory of that date shows that the Bates Harbins were confronted by a formidable collection of Victoriana – antimacassars, wool rugs, a ‘sociable’ or circular settee in the centre of the hall, Japanese bric-a-brac and a most unusual display of thirteen ‘fish slices’, apparently decorating the walls of the staircase. Before long these curiosities disappeared to be replaced by Queen Anne walnut from the attics and 17^th century pewter from the kitchen.
Throughout her long life Mrs Bates Harbin continued to beautify Newton. She had inherited the love for and appreciation of all beautiful things which has characterised the descendants of Joseph Fry, who in the late 18^th century was associated in the manufacture of Bristol porcelain. Her grandfather, Francis Fry, had an extensive collection of this, and she herself has a considerable knowledge of furniture, silver and china. She was also a very skilful needlewoman, whose skill was matched by her sense of colour and design. Her Jacobean bedspreads and curtains and gros-point chair seats adorn the furniture at Newton. Her last piece was finished with unfaltering dexterity only a few months before her death.
Perhaps as a result of her upbringing in the household of a keen Liberal MP and his energetic wife, Hilda Bates Harbin had no ambition to take part in public life. Nevertheless she played her part in Yeovil affairs, becoming the first woman magistrate on the Yeovil County Bench in 1921, a governor of the Yeovil High School, and a trustee of the Woborn Almshouses, the Wyndham Lecture Trust and John Young’s School Trust at Trent.
Both Mrs Bates Harbin and her husband, whose father came from Northumberland, renewed the sociable traditions of Newton with north country hospitality, based as all true hospitality must be on a genuine love and care for others. It was while Preb. Bates Harbin was Chairman of SDNQ in 1912 that the custom was established of holding the annual committee meeting at Newton, a custom which after her husband’s death in 1918 was continued by Mrs Bates Harbin, despite wartime intermissions, to the present day. She had agreed that the meeting should be held this year on 18^th August. After considering what would have been her wishes the Committee agreed with her daughter, Mrs Cosmo Rawlins, that the meeting should take place as arranged.
Hilda Bates-Harbin’s many friends will always remember her for her keen sense of humour, her great dignity, her forbearance, courtesy to all, warmth of heart and her constant kindness and generosity. The SDNQ Committee would like to record their gratitude for the hospitality she has extended to them for so many years.

Obituary for John Batten (1815-1900) (SDNQ Vol. 7, p.171. December 1900)
The Editors of SDNQ cannot allow the decease of Mr John Batten of Aldon, Yeovil, the founder of this Magazine, at the ripe age of 85, to pass without notice in these pages. Born on 17^th February 1815, son of the late Mr John Batten, he practised for many years in Yeovil as a member of the legal profession, holding various appointments, such as the Registrarship of the County Court, and serving as a Deputy Lieutenant for Somerset, and a Justice of Peace for Somerset and Dorset.
But it is not upon his professional work and abilities that the Editors now wish to dwell. They desire to place on record Mr Batten’s eminent services to archaeology.
Mr Batten was one of the original members of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (there cannot be many now left) his name appears in the first (1850) list of members as ‘J. Batten, Jun., Yeovil’; he was President in 1886, when he entertained the Society at Aldon, and afterwards one of the Vice-Presidents and also a Trustee.
His best-known work is entitled Historical Collections relating to the Early History of Parts of South Somerset, and is full of original research and on that account of real help to the student of Somerset County History. Besides this, he contributed various papers to the above Society, including a history of the parish of Trent; we should also mention his learned Presidential address (vol. 32).
Mr Batten was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians, June 7, 1866.
In these pages it should be particularly recorded that to his initiative the genesis of SDNQ is to be ascribed, as it was in response to his invitation that Mr Hugh Norris and Mr C.H. Mayo ventured to issue to the world the first number in March 1888. From that date to the day of his death Mr Batten followed the fortunes of the Magazine with unflagging interest, supporting it not only by communications from his pen, but also by advice derived from his ripe experience, and by the zeal in recommending it to his friends.
The Editors and other members of the Committee will always retain a pleasing recollection of their annual reunions, when they partook of Mr Batten’s hospitality at Aldon, and discussed matters concerning the welfare of the Magazine.
Mr Batten died at Weymouth on Thursday, 8^th November, 1900, and was subsequently interred at Berwick, near Yeovil.
THE EDITORS.

Obituary for James Arthur Bennett (1835-1890) (SDNQ Vol. 2, p.168, 1891)
We deeply regret to have to record the sudden death at Bath, on December 5^th, of the Rev. James Arthur Bennett, FSA, Rector of South Cadbury, Honorary Secretary of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Record Societies, and one of the Committee in connection with SDNQ.
Mr Bennett was only fifty-five years of age, and his loss will be irreparable. No one has done more for the cause of Archaeology in the County of Somerset than he has, having been (we believe) the originator of the Somerset Record Society, and its guiding spirit from its commencement. The first four volumes are a standing memorial to him, as is also the volume on the MSS. Of the Dean and Chapter of Wells, which he edited for the Historical MSS. Commission. He was the Author of many valuable Papers which have appeared in the Volumes of the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society, and also of ‘Camelot’, a lecture delivered in 1887, and afterwards printed for private circulation.
He will be greatly missed too in the counsels of the Committee which was elected on November 8^th at Taunton to consider the subject of a ‘New County History for Somerset’, and nowhere more than at the Annual Summer Meeting of the Archaeological Society, where his genial kindness and good nature always made the Meeting pleasant and enjoyable.
Alas, that these are now only a memory of the past! His body was laid to rest, on December 11^th, in the beautiful churchyard of his beloved parish of South Cadbury, where he was born and of which he was Rector for twenty-four years.
THE EDITOR.

Obituary for Walter Stuart Best (1908-1984) (SDNQ Vol. 32, p.409, March 1985)
Walter Stuart Best DL, JP, MA. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of one of our most distinguished colleagues. Stuart Best was a member of the committee of SDNQ for thirty-five years, and supported the publications of the journal by contributions on Godmanston Parish records, Place-names of Dorset, the Romano-British Church, and Britain during the Dark Ages.
Educated privately, and at Sherborne School (1921-1922) and Trinity College, Cambridge, he began farming at Godmanston Manor Farm in 1934, and remained there until the end of his life. He took an active part in parish administration and local government, and in 1947 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. His love for Dorset was admirably expressed in his enduring concern with conservation, and he was actively involved with the National Trust, the Dorset Naturalists’ Trust, the Trust for British Ornithology, and the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society.
We will remember him as a congenial colleague, a quiet scholar, a lover of his countryside, and a Christian in faith and principles.

Notice re. the death of Leslie Brooke (1915-2004) (SDNQ Vol.35, p.336, March 2004)
We regret to announce the death of Leslie Brooke, the well known local historian, artist and lecturer. He served on the committee from 1985 to 2001, and for many years gave valuable service as an indexer of our volumes. A full obituary appeared in the Western Gazette, 11 December 2003.

Obituary for Ivor Philip Collis (1916-1979) (SDNQ Vol. 30, p.393, March 1979)
It is with deep regret that we report the death of Ivor P. Collis, FSA (John to his contemporaries), long- serving County Archivist of Somerset, under whose guidance a generation of scholars, many of them contributors to this magazine, were educated in the use and interpretation of the records in his care.
After training in the Bedfordshire Record Office under Dr G.H. Fowler, the major influence in the establishment of the profession of local archivist in England and an association of which he remained justly proud throughout his career, and six years war service, Ivor Collis came to Somerset. He was appointed as its second County Archivist in 1946 after the office had been without staff for six years, and he continued to hold the post until ill-health forced his retirement in 1977 at the age of 61.
Among his professional colleagues he was acknowledged as a, if not the, leading technical expert, and his advice and help were regularly sought by those with problems in the fields of archive building and conservation, and as regularly greeted by him with total application to each individual case.
In Somerset he developed a record office on similarly generous lines to such effect that it gained a wide reputation as one where friendship and scholarly counsel were offered in equal measure.
Ivor Collis served both his profession and his county well. He was for many years an elected Councillor on the Council of the Society of Archivists, its Chairman from 1963 to 1966 and Chairman of its Technical Committee from 1970 until his retirement. Within Somerset he was for much of his career an active member of the Councils of both the Somerset Archaeological Society and the Somerset Record Society. He joined the Committee of SDNQ in 1962 and attended, as he had unfailingly done throughout, the latest Annual General Meeting in September last. His sound practical sense, his willingness to share his knowledge, and his endless capacity for taking pains on others’ behalf will make him sorely missed in all these fields.
DEREK MARTYN MARSH SHORROCKS.

Obituary for Wilson Eustace Daniel (1841-1924) (SDNQ Vol. 18, p,8, 1924)
Rev. Wilson Eustace Daniel, Prebendary of Buckland Dinham (1898), and sub-dean of Wells Cathedral (1915), passed away on Friday, February 15^th, 1924, at Ansford Lodge, Castle Cary. The third son of Alfred Daniel of Frome Selwood, he was born in 1841, and educated at Kings College and Worcester College, Oxford (of which College his elder brother was Provost) where he was an Exhibitioner. He was ordained in 1865 and worked in Whitechapel 1866-7. From 1867-75 he was chaplain, divinity lecturer and tutor of Worcester College, Oxford; from 1875-89 Vicar of Holy Trinity, Frome Selwood. He returned to Oxford and from 1889-93 was Grinfield lecturer in the LXX. Again, he returned to Somerset as Vicar of East Pennard and Rural Dean of Shepton Mallet, 1890, and Rector of Horsington 1897 till he retired in 1923.
He was associated with the SDNQ from its initiation in 1888 and contributed notes to the first volume and frequently since. For many years he has been a member of the Committee and attended the annual meetings.
His ripe scholarship, charm of manner, and readiness to assist from his stores of antiquarian knowledge and research rendered him a persona grata to this numerous friends. His kindly help, and gentle spirit will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure to work with him
‘I knew him’, writes Canon Mayo, ‘for many years, through meeting him at the house of a common friend, long before he became one of the Committee of SDNQ, and in the past had the opportunity of his society in walks in the neighbourhood of Oxford. His departure creates a feeling of loss in those who knew him well, which cannot be replaced.’

Obituary for Charles Douglas Drew (1883-1956) (SDNQ Vol. 27, p.105, December 1956)
LT.-COLONEL CHARLES DOUGLAS DREW, DSO, OBE, FSA.
Colonel Drew, Curator of the Dorset County Museum, died on 10^th October, aged 73, after 22 years of service. After a notable military career, he became Curator of Dorchester and Field Secretary, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, posts which, with his wide knowledge and tact, he filled with distinction. He was President of the South-Western Group of Museums, 1940-41, and had served on the committee of SDNQ for several years.
At the Maiden Castle excavations, 1934-37, Drew, in addition to his assistance in the archaeological work, took a large share in the staff-work, and acted as Treasurer.
Colonel Drew was a lovable person, a man on integrity and a good companion, always ready to help those in need of information and always courteous in his manner. His life was a model of service.
ST. GEORGE GRAY.

Obituary for Hugh Percival Ross Foster (1887-1979) (SDNQ Vol. 30, p.429, September 1979)
The Committee report with much regret the death in a nursing home on March 10, at the age of 92, of Mr Hugh Foster, our secretary and treasurer from January 1954 to December 1965. Mr Foster, a barrister, served in the 1914/18 War and then became legal adviser to the Imperial War Graves Commission. In 1927 he married Miss Isabel Luckcraft, who eventually inherited the Stocklinch Manor estate near Ilminster. On retiring from the War Graves Commission, Mr Foster came with Mrs Foster to live at Stocklinch where they had a wide circle of friends and entertained with generous hospitality until Mrs Foster’s death in 1977, not long after their golden wedding party. Mr Foster took over the secretaryship of SDNQ after Prebendary Palmer’s death in 1953 and also served for some years on the Somerset County Library Committee.

Obituary for John Hooper Harvey (1911-1997) (SDNQ Vol. 34, p.217, September 1998)
J.H. Harvey Hon. Dr (York), FSA. It is with deep regret that we have to record the death of Dr John Harvey in November last aged 87 years; he had been for many years archivist to Winchester College. He had an abiding interest in garden history and had been president of the Garden Society, but above all he was the acknowledged authority on church architecture, particularly in the Perpendicular style, where his meticulous eye for detail came into its own.
His family roots were in N.E. Somerset and when he retired he settled in Frome. He was elected a member of our Editorial Committee in 1979 and was assiduous in his attendance throughout, being present at the last September meeting. He will be best remembered, however, for the part he played in our deliberations, where his wide-ranging erudition, plus his phenomenal recall, meant that, whatever the subject to be discussed, he could make a worthwhile contribution. It is a truism on such an occasion to say that he will be missed, but the Committee will feel the gap, and our discussion will be diminished.

Obituary for Leonard Charles Hayward (1906-1992) (SDNQ Vol. 33, p.145, September 1992)
Leonard Charles Hayward, BA, BSc, FSA, 1906-1992.
The number for March 1989 recorded Leonard’s retirement through ill-health from the post of Hon. Secretary and Treasurer which he had held with distinction for twenty-three years. With our gratitude we hoped for his improvement in health and continuance of his valuable services on our committee. Sadly, this was not to be, and with deep regret we now have to record Leonard’s death, aged 86, on 25 March 1992.
Leonard was a Wiltshire man, educated at Devizes Grammar School and University College London. After teaching in Malmesbury and elsewhere he was Senior History Master and Librarian at Yeovil School, 1945-65. But, besides a devoted and successful teacher, Leonard had a lifelong interest in archaeology; and, as with all he undertook, his interest was intensely active, informed and practical. The list of his many appointments, too long to be given in full, includes membership of Council of Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society (President 1980); of Yeovil Borough Library and Museum Committee; founder and Chairman 1954-75 of Yeovil Archaeological and Local History Society; Director of excavations at Lufton and Ilchester Mead Roman villas and author of Reports 1952, 1972, 1982. His publications also include Yeovil Almshouses; Bygone Yeovil; The Romans at Lufton, Ilchester and Yeovil; From Portreeve to Mayor, a History of Yeovil 1750-1854. He contributed many articles and notes in our magazine, and was part author of The Borough of Yeovil, its History and Government 1954, and other works. He spent much time giving practical and regular help at the Yeovil Museum, where the ‘Hayward Gallery’ named after him will not locally be confused with any other of that name.
But just now all who knew him will not be thinking so much of Leonard’s many services, his ability, constant industry and notable achievements, as of the kind, warm-hearted, unassuming, sincere and constant good friend that we have lost, and for whose life and friendship we are grateful. Leonard was blessed in having a profoundly happy home life, and we all send our deepest sympathy to Norah and their family.

Obituary for Margaret Elizabeth Holmes (1923-2015) (SDNQ Vol. 38, p.47, March 2016)
Margaret Holmes MA, Dorset’s first County Archivist, died at Charminster on 14 January 2015 in her 92^nd year.
After service in the WRENS and reading English at Oxford, Margaret was one of the first to take the then new Diploma in Archive Administration at London University. On qualification she spent several years working at Gloucestershire Record Office.
Dorset followed many other counties in setting up an archive service or county record office. In the mid-1950s, the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society suggested to the County Council that it was time that Dorset employed a full-time qualified person as their archivist to look after the collections then held in County Hall and the Dorset County Museum. Margaret Holmes took up the new appointment of County Archivist in September 1956. In later days she would recount with typical, self-deprecating humour, some of the ‘challenges’ she faced in the early days, matters which in practice must have been quite trying and difficult to resolve. Initially, she had no office or public research space and worked in and between two stores in the Museum and County Hall, with little in the way of resources. In typical style she was not downhearted and soon persuaded those in authority to give her fledgling service priority over the storage of empty ballot boxes. In fact, she was quite quickly able to amalgamate the two collections in one place and to create a fully functioning service. To begin with, she shared her office with the public, a situation which continued for some years until a separate, ‘temporary’ building, was put up in the courtyard to provide a public search room.
In her own way, Margaret Holmes was a determined and formidable person, and yet with typical modesty and humour, she established Dorset’s archives firmly as a much appreciated, fully rounded service, used and enjoyed by thousands of people. Harnessing the initial impetus and continuing support, which she maintained and increased over her time, Margaret drew into permanent safekeeping many of the major archive collections recording so much of Dorset’s history. These included not only the great archives of the county, but she also collected and made accessible the records of the parishes, popular with many family historians.
She contributed pieces to SDNQ, based on interesting documents she had come across, and in October 1969 she joined the editorial committee as a member for Dorset. During this time, she encouraged her staff to write up interesting or unusual documents for publication in SDNQ. In 1986 she resigned from the editorial committee, three years after her retirement.
Margaret Holmes held her learning lightly and over the years willingly shared her knowledge with all who sought to use and enjoy the archives. Margaret laid permanent, solid foundations for the successful preservation and use of Dorset’s archives to this day. In Dorset she was a pioneer and a successful one.
MRS ANN SMITH.

Obituary for Sir Mervyn Medlycott Bt. (1947-2021) (SDNQ Vol.39, pp.193-5, March 2022)
In March 1975 (vol.30, pt.301, p.113), a notice from Mervyn Medlycott appeared in SDNQ, proposing the formation of a family history society to cover Somerset and Dorset. The response was encouraging and the inaugural meeting of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society (SDFHS) was held in Sandford Orcas village hall. Mervyn came from an old family which had lived in the area around the county boundary for generations, and had been working as a record agent locally so he had an active interest in the genealogies of the two counties, particularly the older families and their interconnections. Although he was rather shy and unassuming by nature, his personal interest and involvement encouraged the Society to develop into one of the major genealogical societies in the country. He served as Chairman and Secretary, later becoming President. He was a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists and was also Vice-President.
On the death of his uncle Sir Christopher Medlycott he inherited the baronetcy, becoming the 9th baronet. He lived in Sandford Orcas near Sherborne for over fifty years, living at first in one of the cottages and subsequently moving into the manor house, a charming Tudor house which dates from about 1550. This had been let out on a repairing lease but when he moved in he found the ‘repairing’ part had been rather neglected. When it rained, saucepans and buckets were out in force because the roof was in a poor state. He embarked on a major refurbishment, renewing the roof and installing new wiring and plumbing. He opened the manor house to the public on two days a week during the summer months, taking the visitors round personally and imparting his considerable knowledge with old-fashioned charm and wit. As lord of the manor, he carried out his role conscientiously, allowing the use of the manor house gardens for the village fete, and inviting the congregation in for mulled wine and mince pies after the Christmas carol service. He also opened the manor house for the highly successful Christmas concerts followed by supper in aid of the Sherborne Voluntary Ambulance. He was a regular worshipper in the village church and played the organ for many years. He was an active member of the PCC and the diocesan Synod representative for about 40 years.
His first contribution to SDNQ, on mediaeval deeds relating to Edmondsham in Dorset, was published in September 1971 (Vol.29, Pt.294, p.195) and he was a regular if sporadic contributor thereafter. There is a gap during the 1980s, presumably when he was occupied in making the manor house habitable, but in the 1990s he produced a steady stream of pieces on such diverse topics as the census of Trent, the Dorset Volunteers fives courts, North Perrott coffin stools and monumental inscriptions in Somerset.
The last-mentioned contribution marks his involvement with the Family History Society’s project to transcribe the inscriptions on tombstones in village churchyards before they became illegible. He devoted much time and many miles to this, travelling all over both Somerset and Dorset. Naturally he didn’t dress in his best for this task, and one churchwarden initially mistook him for a tramp when he found him lying among the gravestones! This caused him much amusement and he would take delight in relating the story. Now available in the record offices of both counties, these transcripts form a valuable resource for genealogists and historians. He wrote and co-wrote a number of Gibson Guides for family historians; militia lists, local censuses, and land and window tax, which are still to be found in record offices and libraries and continue to be useful because of their wide coverage of sources. He also compiled a list of Somerset wills: prints and Mss. copies, which is particularly valuable as the county’s probate records were destroyed during the Second World War. His History of Sandford Orcas, which he wrote and researched using both manuscript sources and oral testimony from the villagers, went through two editions.
He joined the Editorial Committee of SDNQ in 1990. Most members represent either Somerset or Dorset, but Mervyn always considered that he represented both counties, as Sandford Orcas has been in Somerset until 1896, when the county boundary was moved and it came into Dorset. On the death of our President, Mrs Rawlins in 2007, he offered the manor house as the venue for our committee meetings. He was a kind and generous host and we always felt very welcome. He had a wry sense of humour and delightful appreciation of the oddities of life. We miss his presence, his occasionally quirky comments, and his kindly nature. His is buried in the churchyard at Sandford Orcas, next to the manor house.
With thanks to the Queen Thorne parish magazine for additional information about Sir Mervyn.

Obituary for Sir Owen Morshead (1893-1977) (SDNQ Vol. 30, p.267, September 1977)
Sir Owen Morshead, GCVO, KCB, DSO, MC, who died on June 1^st, aged 83, will be much missed by the Committee of SDNQ and by his many friends in Dorset and elsewhere. He was a regular attender at Committee meetings and on occasion gave generous financial assistance.
To those of us who only knew him as an elegant elderly scholar, it may have been an effort to recall that he had a distinguished military record in the first World War, being five times mentioned in despatches, winning the DSO, MC, and the Italian Croce di Guerra, and being made an officer of the Legion of Honour in France. Returning to Cambridge after the war, he took a degree in Modern Languages and was made Fellow of Magdalen College and Pepys Librarian. In 1926 he was offered and accepted the post of Librarian and Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle. He remained at Windsor for thirty-two years, becoming a trusted friend of George V and Queen Mary, and their successors. He edited Everybody’s Pepys, and wrote a well-illustrated account of Windsor Castle, 1951, and one of George IV and Royal Lodge, 1965. As librarian he worked to make the great collection in his charge accessible to scholars and was always ready to help enquirers. He also found time to take a keen interest in hospital administration and served on several hospital boards.
Retiring to Dorset, he became in 1960, the first chairman of the Dorset Historic Churches Preservation Trust. He threw himself into this work with the energy and enthusiasm of a much younger man. He visited churches in all parts of the county, lectured on behalf of the Trust, organised fund-raising events, published three finely illustrated guides to Dorset churches, and he charmed others into assisting the work.
In its first ten years the Trust raised £10,000 and gave grants to over 150 churches, many of them suffering from the enforced neglect of the 1940s. Sir Owen realised that there were critics who would consider the preservation of ancient church buildings in remote areas a waste of funds which could be better employed elsewhere. But Sir Owen was concerned not only with buildings but with people, with the people of those small villages whom he found striving to raise sums, small by comparison with those needed for larger churches but large to them, to repair their ancient places of worship. In his report of the first ten years of the Trust’s work, Sir Owen wrote of the people of one such parish – ‘Still, after eight centuries, the Batcombe babies are brought to the Norman font, the brides to their altar, the aged to the grave. These age long freedoms they would not cheerfully forget.’
In the improved condition of so many Dorset churches to which the Trust has given and continues to give grants, is Sir Owen’s memorial in Dorset.
To Lady Morshead and her family the Committee would like to extend their sincere sympathy.
MRS. S.W. RAWLINS.

Obituary for Matthew Nathan (1862-1939) (SDNQ Vol. 23, p.25, June 1939)
SIR MATTHEW NATHAN. It was with very deep regret that we heard of the death of our chairman Sir Matthew Nathan. After serving his country with distinction in many parts of the Empire he settled down in retirement in the beautiful manor house which he bought for himself in West Coker. This he restored most carefully and here he was delighted to meet and entertain his many friends. He took his full share in the public life of the county, and was a good friend to all the village in which he lived. He especially interested himself in the preservation of the County records, and the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society – of which he was President in 1930, and as long as he was able regularly attended its Council meetings. He succeeded Dean Armitage Robinson as Chairman of the Committee of SDNQ and helped us with his advice and his contributions. He devoted his spare time to preparing for the press a history of West Coker – which we hope may be published. Latterly he felt unable to continue his many activities and resigned many of his offices, but he remained our chairman to the end.

Obituary for Vere Langford Oliver (1861-1942) (SDNQ Vol. 23, p.281, 1942)
THE LATE VERE L. OLIVER FSA. The Committee of SDNQ has sustained a heavy loss in the death of Vere Langford Oliver of Greenhill House, Weymouth on January 9^th, 1942. Born at Weymouth on May 8^th, 1961 he chose the medical profession and studied at St George’s Hospital London, being admitted MRCS (England) and LRCP (London) in 1883. He practised at Ascot and in the West Indies and went to live at Sunninghill on his marriage to Celia only child of Sir George Martin-Hollloway of that place. Whilst in the West Indies he collected the materials for his great work The History of Antiqua in four volumes published in 1896, a monument of learned genealogical research, containing pedigrees of all the important families connected with the Island. His connection with SDNQ dates from 1888 for he was an original subscriber and has contributed valuable notes to our pages ever since. His heart was always in Dorset and since 1906 he was a valued member of the Committee of SDNQ. The writer had a long letter from him ten days before he died, and he was at work up to the day before his death. His passing removed an outstanding personality, a man of sound judgment and one who was always ready to impart his wide knowledge on matters connected with Dorset, Somerset and the West Indies. He leaves three sons and two daughters to whom we extend our sincere sympathy.
RICHARD GROSVENOR BARTELOT.

Obituary for Francis Arthur Ollett (1903-1964) (SDNQ Vol. 28, p.228, 1965)
MR F.A. OLLETT, MA. Readers of SDNQ will have heard of the death of Mr F.A. Ollett with great regret. Those who knew him personally will mourn the loss of a friend. Many others knew of his sterling work over so long a period as Senior Lecturer in Adult Education (Dorset) in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of Bristol University. Many will have heard him give one of his enthusiastic lectures on old houses, county historians, or some other aspect of local history. His wide knowledge and infectious keenness were matched by his facility of expression.
He will be keenly missed by the members of the Editorial Committee, where his interest and help were much appreciated.
W.S.B.

Obituary for Thomas Francis Palmer (1875-1953) (SDNQ Vol. 26, p.181, April 1954)
The death of Prebandary Thomas Francis Palmer is a great loss to SDNQ. To him more than to anyone else is due the fact that our periodical is still a going concern. As Honorary Treasurer he husbanded decreasing income so carefully that we were able to survive the two wars and still carry on.
The Editors and Committee would come to the Annual Meeting at Newton Surmaville each year, wondering if that would not be the last of these delightful occasions, only to hear our Treasurer report that we were keeping our heads just above water and with care and more subscribers we could make good the losses of the past year. But what all this meant to him in correspondence, patience and persistence only he could say. No one but he could have seen us safely through so many years of anxiety.
Ordained in 1898 he spent the first years of his Ministry in the North of England. He came to Somerset in 1916 and was successively Vicar of Witham Friary (1916-1923), of Cheddar (1923-1936) and of East Brent (1936-1953). He served as Rural Dean of Axbridge and had been Prebendary of Compton Dundon in Wells Cathedral since 1921.
Besides being Treasurer of SDNQ, he had served on the Council of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and at the time of his death was Secretary of the Somerset Record Society.
Failing health necessitated his retirement and he had only recently settled down at Winscombe when he met his death. A large and representative congregation attended his funeral at Cheddar on 27^th November 1953.
GEORGE WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Obituary for Roger N.R. Peers MA, FSA, FMA (1932-2023) (SDNQ Vol. 39, pp.431-2, March 2024)
The death of Roger Peers in February 2023 at the age of 90 robs Dorset of one of its most distinguished post-war figures. Curator of the the Dorset County Museum and Secretary of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society from 1959 to 1992, his immense knowledge of the county made inevitable his election to the Editorial Committee of Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries in 1977. He became Chairman in 1990, succeeding Mrs Cosmo Rawlins, finally resigning in 2012. Roger Peers was only the fourth curator of the County Museum, becoming Assistant Curator in 1954 after reading archaeology at Oxford. Although he had no family links to Dorset, he soon immersed himself in the life of the county. He was a true curator, in the old-fashioned meaning of the word, regarding himself as the custodian of the collections in his care with a responsibility to display and explain them to a large audience, particularly the young. During his tenure as Curator he established the Museum’s literary collections, particularly those of Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Townsend Warner and the Powys family, and the Museum twice won the Museum of the Year Award.
I first met him in 1973. The walls either side of the stone fireplace in his office looking out over Cornhill were lined with the oak panelling from Tyneham House, saved following the military occupation of Tyneham village in 1943. The piles of paper balance precariously on his desk and two cloth-covered tables hinted at the range of his interests. Archaeology, architecture, literature, music, art, ceramics, social history, geology – nothing was spared his wonderful enthusiasm for all things to do with Dorset. Pieces of carved medieval stone shared space with Iron Age pottery shards or a fragment of dinosaur vertebra. He championed Dorset artists, building up a fine collection.
His ‘Note’ for the March 1991 issue of SDNQ honouring Sophie Rawlins on her retirement as Chairman is typical of both his scholarship and generosity. It concerned the restoration of an early-Victorian organ from Bridehead, Little Bredy. In four paragraphs he not only meticulously explained the organ’s complex construction but honoured craftsmanship of the organ builder who had restored it. A gift for sharing his knowledge was typical. One of life’s pleasures was receiving a postcard in his tiny almost indecipherable black handwriting about a building he had spotted when walking which he thought might interest me.
I owe him a considerable debt. It will be 50 years in the autumn since the birth of the Dovecote Press with the publication of A Dorset Camera 1855-1914. I was 25, impecunious, gauche, new to Dorset. Roger believed in the idea of the book, giving me free rein of the Museum’s photographic collection. His support opened doors across the county. But for that encouragement my life might have taken a very different turn.
That same counsel marked his years as Chairman of SDNQ. He filled Sophie Rawlins formidable shoes with quiet modesty, giving of his time and expertise. In 2011 he oversaw the County Connections symposium on the historic links between Dorset and Somerset at Downside Abbey, retiring the following year to his house in Beaminster.
DAVID BURNETT

Resignation by Mrs S.W. Rawlins of the Chairmanship of SDNQ (SDNQ vol.33, p.1, March 1991)
At the last meeting of the Editorial Committee in October 1990, Mrs Rawlins expressed a wish to give up the chairmanship, which she had held for twenty-eight years, and reluctantly the members agreed to her request.
As Miss Sophia Wyndham Bates Harbin she became a subscriber to SDNQ soon after leaving Bedford College where she had taken a first-class degree in history and, following her parents’ interest, began studying and writing on local history. In the course of this work she met Mr Cosmo Rawlins whom she married in 1940 and on his retirement came to live at the Court House in Stoford. She joined her mother on the committee, became chairman on the death of Mr A.W. Vivian-Neal early in 1962 and, after her mother’s death later in the same year, settled in the family home at Newton Surmaville, where she continues the long-established custom of holding the meetings of the committee.
Mrs Rawlins supported with great interest the work of the two editors, was always ready to give useful advice and help to the secretary-treasurer and herself made many scholarly contributions to the journal. She was especially interested in tracing the many links between her family and those of her neighbours in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire and a glance at the indexes of SDNQ reveals the extent of her detailed knowledge in all its aspects. The publication of her book, Kay of the Hills in 1987 (recently reviewed in SDNQ vo.32, 868) shows also a more imaginative interpretation of the legends and traditions of the Somerset countryside.
In 1988, when SDNQ reached its centenary, Mrs Rawlins played a major role in the organisation of the celebrations held at Newton which marked the occasion and many subscribers were able to thank her personally for the part she had played in producing the journal for so many years.
Finally, the Editorial Committee would like to express their appreciation not only of her untiring support in the many trials of publication but also of the hospitality offered to them in the meetings – and teas – at Newton Surmaville, where the background of her love for her family, home, and local studies, gave a feeling of continuity to a publication so closely connected with them all.
LEONARD HAYWARD.

Obituary for Sophia Wyndham Rawlins (née Bates-Harbin) (1908-2006) (SDNQ Vol. 36, p.89, March 2007)
‘The writing of a work such as this, which is obviously a compilation from local and national sources, can only have been achieved by the willing co-operation of workers… up and down England. Whilst the volume was in preparation the counties of Northumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Somerset printed the biographies of their knights of the shire and the debt owing to… the compilers who produced them can be seen abundantly in the footnote references.’ So wrote Colonel Josiah Wedgwood MP in his monumental History of Parliament, Biographies, 1439-1509 published in 1936. The work on Somerset MPs, to which he refers was that of Miss Sophia Bates-Harbin, published at first in parts and in 1939 as a single volume by the Somerset Archaeological Society. Two other scholars of a later generation, Dr Thomas Barnes and Professor David Underdown, among many others before and since happily expressed their appreciation for the help they had received from that same scholar in their work on the county in the 17^th century. For she was a scholar, inheriting essential skills from her father and demonstrating them early, not only in a degree from London University in 1930 but in the important work she published from 1933 on the county’s knights of the shire, and the volume of Somerset Enrolled Deeds published by the Somerset Record Society in 1937.
I first came into contact with Sophie in the early 1960s when, as a raw research student working on the medieval history of the diocese of Bath and Wells, I wrote to the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer of that same society asking if I might join and buy copies of the published bishop’s registers. The welcoming, though even then difficult-to-decipher letter, began an association which soon led (and I am amazed now I think of it) to an invitation to join the august ranks of the society’s council. Sophie had by then been carrying the society for some ten years (something else she inherited, as it were, from her father, as she had already inherited membership of the committee of SDNQ) and when I tentatively suggested that I might edit a manuscript I had found in the Public Record Office, my offer was accepted immediately. Someone who might possibly help her to carry on the tradition was entirely welcome, and maintaining membership and securing finance for new volumes was quite enough to be getting on with; would I take over the editorship? That kind of patronage of such a beginner was amazing.
Those letters, always entirely formal and to the point, kept coming from time to time; always entirely friendly and increasingly hard to figure out. The formality was of the age and family to which she belonged. Apart from being Lady of the Manor of Newton Surmaville she was Lay Rector of Barwick in a long line of owners who could be traced (though she never did in public) back to the time when the Crown acquired that estate at the dissolution of Syon Abbey in 1539. She was then also patron of the living of Yeovil. Soon after returning to Newton on the death of her mother in the early 1960s she received a letter from the bishop of the diocese in effect summoning her to Wells to discuss with him the clergyman he had chosen to be the new parish priest. A firm reply reminded his lordship that first, as she understood the matter, a gentleman called on a lady; and, further, that as she was true and undoubted patron of the living, she was rather offended that her rights had been ignored in this way and that she would, in due course, submit a name to the bishop for consideration. The new vicar was not the one the bishop had had in mind.
It was only comparatively recently, perhaps within the last five years or so, that I received a letter from Sophie beginning ‘Dear Robert’ and signed with her first name alone. It was a significant moment, and at the next SDNQ tea I made bold to address her as such; whether she heard is another matter, but there was no thunderclap. Less than two weeks before she died she was concerned about our meeting and the arrangements for tea. Today, meeting in another place for the first time, we remember a remarkable lady – loyal daughter, caring wife, scholar, author, poet, encourager of students, support of local causes, patron of Somerset studies, friend.
As a matter of record, Sophie was active in the three societies concerned with Somerset’s history. She joined the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1926, served as a member of its council 1932-1942 and was a trustee 1938-1987. She served as president in 1964-5. She joined the council of the Somerset Record Society in 1931-2 and served for fifty years; she served as honorary secretary and treasurer, and in effect honorary general editor from 1953, relinquishing the treasurership in 1976 and the secretaryship in 1981. She was a member of the editorial committee of SDNQ from 1933 until 1990 and served as its chairman from 1962. From 1990 until her death she was patron.
[This tribute was first read at the AGM of SDNQ at Marston House in 2006. The committee unanimously agreed to the publication of this fitting tribute]
ROBERT DUNNING.

Obituary for William Rees-Mogg (1928-2012) (SDNQ Vol. 37, p.227, March 2013)
We record with deep regret the death of our Patron, Lord Rees-Mogg of Hinton-Blewitt, on 29 December 2012 at the age of 84. He has been described by Dom Aidan Bellenger, Abbot of Downside, and a member of the SDNQ committee, as ‘one of the most influential men of his generation’. Michael McGarvie writes: ‘William Rees-Mogg was born in 1928 and educated at Charterhouse and Balliol with which he had family connections. He was of good Somerset ancestry going back to John Mogg of Chewton Mendip in 1585. For more than two centuries his family owned Cholwell House at Temple Cloud. His double-barrelled name came from the marriage of Mary Mogg Wooldridge and the Rev. John Rees in 1805.
SDNQ first became associated with him in 2000. He had come to live at Bilboa on the Mells Estate and kindly agreed to explain his family history to members at the Millennium Garden Party at Marston House. He had been an outstanding editor of The Times and a leading Catholic and Conservative thinker. Among the many offices he held was that of High Sheriff of Somerset. After ceasing to be editor he continued to write a column for The Times, not always featuring great issues but sometimes local matters that interested him, such as a good wine shop he’d discovered in Frome. One day he came across SDNQ and praised it in his column. This encouraged us to invite him to join our committee in 2001. He accepted and after the death of Mrs S.W. Rawlins he became our patron.
He attended meetings when he could and gave SDNQ much sage advice and wise counsel. Those who expected a hard-bitten journalist found instead a quietly spoken gentleman, courteous and erudite with a good sense of humour. I found him modest and unassuming, never domineering and he fitted perfectly into the ambience of our committee. We benefited hugely from his wide knowledge and measured judgement.
Strangely enough, William Rees-Mogg did not drive and it was my pleasant task to take him to SDNQ committee meetings. It was a privilege to be exposed to so much good conversation. On the first occasion I took him I found him drinking Chablis in his garden. On the second occasion I had Dom Aidan Bellenger with me and those two great Catholics, who had such a respect for each other, both refused to take the front seat of my humble vehicle. Finally, William was persuaded to do so, despite the shortage of room for his long legs. William would talk learnedly about antiquarian books which he bought and sold. He was much interested in the ghost of a monk said on good authority to haunt the Pasvise Room at Bilboa. Its manifestations ceased on the removal of a crucifix from one wall to another. I was surprised to find that he believed Catholic priests should be allowed to marry. Soon after 9/11 he told me that nations soon recovered from such catastrophes. Could I remember the exact date of Pearl Harbour?
The funeral was at Westminster Cathedral, the lesson being ‘Let us now praise famous men’. Lady Gass represented SDNQ. William was buried with his ancestors at Camely where his great grandfather, the Rev. H.S. Savory, had been rector.
MICHAEL MCGARVIE.

Obituary for Joseph Armitage Robinson (1858-1933) (SDNQ Vol. 21, p.25, June 1933)
News has come to hand after we had gone to press, of the death of the Very Reverend Dean Armitage Robinson, KCVO, DD, whose illness and resignation we recorded in our last issue. We had voiced the hopes of all his numerous friends that rest from active work would restore him to health; but this was not to be. He died at his new home, the Manor House, Upton Noble, at midnight on Sunday, May 7^th.
Of his European reputation as a Churchman and scholar and antiquary, we hope to write more fully at a future date. Suffice it is to say he was son of a Somerset vicar, and he loved to study the history of his native county, the diocese of Bath and Wells, with which he was officially connected as early as 1888 when Bishop Kennion appointed him his examining chaplain, and later in 1894 made him Prebendary of Compton Bishop in Wells Cathedral. It was twenty-two years ago that he relinquished the Deanery of Westminster for that of Wells. He then commenced a connection with this our publication whereby SDNQ has had the honour of printing a great number of most valuable and interesting articles from his pen on antiquarian subjects. For many years he was Chairman of our Editorial committee, over which he presided with a business-like thoroughness tempered with a genial urbanity and charm of personality so that we of that committee shall miss him beyond expression at those annual summer festivals when we meet in the old world mansion of Newton Surmaville. To Mrs Armitage Robinson we desire to express our heartfelt sympathy and affection.

Obituary for John Robert Ruston (1924-1990) (SDNQ Vol. 32, p.841, September 1990)
It is with deep regret that we record here the death of John Robert Rushton on March 9, 1990. He served as a member of the Editorial Committee since September 1965. He will be chiefly remembered for his management of Commins bookshop in Bournemouth, but members of the committee of this journal will also remember with gratitude his faithful service, his constant interest in the welfare of the journal, his keen business keen business sense, and his unfailing generosity.

Obituary for Arthur William Stote-Blandy (1873-1950) (SDNQ Vol. 26, p.1, April 1951)
Canon Stote-Blandy, until September 1949, was a much valued member of our Editorial Committee. He was obliged to retire on account of ill-health and died in December 1950. There are many of our subscribers who will be glad to have the following review of his life and work, which we print as a tribute of our respect to his memory and as an expression of our sympathy with his family. He was one of ‘the quiet in the land.’
The Rev. Canon A.W. Stote-Blandy died on 18^th December 1950 at Somerleigh, Wimborne in his 78^th year. Born in January 1873, he was the son of a schoolmaster, the third of four brothers, two of whom were ordained and graduates of Oxford and Cambridge. He matriculated first at London University intending to take a Science degree, and was for a short time a Science Master, but soon changed to Theology and migrated to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he was one of the two Chapel Clerks, was placed in the Theological Tripos, and took his BA degree in 1898 followed by MA in 1903.
He was ordained Deacon by Bishop Westcott in September 1898 and was ‘Priested’ the following year in Durham Cathedral. His first Curacy was in Gateshead-on-Tyne in a parish of 20,000 souls in what was then the largest parish in the Diocese but has since been divided.
In 1900 he left the North for the Diocese of Winchester and for 5 years was Senior Curate of St Michael and All Angels’ Bournemouth. Then in 1905 he came to Wimborne to be Senior Curate. The Vicar, Canon Huyshe, died three weeks after his arrival and he worked there under Canon Sowter and then under the new Vicar, the Rev. J.M.J. Fletcher (later Canon).
In 1908 he succeeded the late Canon Ewing D.D. as Vicar of the large industrial parish of Holy Trinity, Trowbridge, Wiltshire where for ten years he was also O.C.F. at the barracks both in peace and wartime.
In 1918 the Governors of Wimborne Minster elected him to succeed the Rev. C.E. Kindersley as the second Vicar of St Michael and All Angels’ Colehill. There for 28 years he worked till his retirement in August 1946. The elaborately illuminated ‘Book of Remembrance’, chained to a carved oak lectern in the Church was painted by him and presented to the Church as a Memorial of the First World War and Colehill’s share in it. In November 1946 he was elected to be one of the XII Governors of Wimborne Minster in the place of the late Sir Kaye le Fleming whose keen interest in the ancient archives he shared. Before and since his retirement from parochial work he loved to exercise his antiquarian tastes and to ‘dig’ among old records as well as to index some of them for ready reference. As a member of several Archaeological Societies he wrote a number of articles which have bene printed in the Wiltshire Archaeological Society Magazine, the Proceedings of the Dorset Society, the SDNQ, etc., dealing with records of various kinds. He was an FSG (London) and transcribed a number of old Parish Registers now deposited in the Society’s collection of copies. Notable among these is that of the parish of St James Trowbridge which contains about 7,000 entries of marriages between 1539 and 1837. In 1933 he published a devotional book, The Healing of Christ’s Wounds (Skeffington & Son) which had a good sale in clerical circles.
In 1934, for family reasons, he changed his name by deed poll, adding the name of Blandy to the patronymic of Stote.
Of his 48 years of continuous parochial activity nearly all were spent in the Sarum Diocese. During that time he served on the Synod, at Diocesan Conferences, and on many Diocesan Boards and Committees including the Board of Finance and the Board of Dilapidations (from its beginning). For ten years he was the Diocesan Electoral Rolls Officer and during that time wrote a number of articles on the subject of the Electoral Rolls which were published in the Church Assembly News.
In 1940 Bishop Neville Lovett collated him to a Canonary in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury and Prebendary of the Prebend of Netherbury in Ecclesia in succession to the late Rev. W. Jacob. The history of this Prebendal Stall carries one back to the time of Egbert, King of the West Saxons who gave the Netherbury manors to the Bishop of Sarum
Canon Stote-Blandy was married in 1902 at St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Bournemouth to Margarette Graham only surviving child of the late Graham John Blandy of Madeira and Mrs Graham Blandy of Harrington, Bournemouth.
There are four surviving children of this marriage, two daughters and two sons (one of whom is the present Vicar of Levin in the Diocese of Wellington New Zealand).

Obituary for Arthur Westall Vivian-Neal (1893-1962) (SDNQ Vol. 28, p.49, March 1962)
The death on February 1^st, 1962, of Arthur Westall Vivian-Neal, was a sad loss to SDNQ and to all who have at heart the study of the past.
His regular contributions to this journal have demonstrated the wide range of his knowledge of Somerset history. Indeed, he held in his hands the threads connecting all the main activities concerned with local history in the county, for he served as Chairman of the Somerset Archaeological Society, of the County Records Committee and of the Somerset Record Society, as well as since 1946, of the Committee of SDNQ.
His first and greatest interest was in medieval history where he showed a keenly sympathetic feeling for the remote past. This extended also into a wide general historical interest, particularly in heraldry and genealogy, in both of which he was an acknowledged expert. In art and architecture his knowledge and understanding were remarkably keen and discerning. In all these activities no single person can replace him.
His public service in many directions was acknowledged in an obituary in the Times of February 9^th, but a fuller appreciation of his life and work will appear in the next number of the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society. Here we can only record our deep sense of personal loss.
THOMAS JOHN HUNT.

Obituary for Dom Aelred Watkin (Christopher Ingram Watkin) (1918-1997) (SDNQ Vol.34, p.173, March 1998)
I have many good memories of Abbot Aelred Watkin who died on 2 May 1997, aged 79. Among them arriving one day at Mells Manor, a former property of Glastonbury Abbey, and being surprised when Lord Oxford said to me, ‘I’m glad you’ve come now, I want you to meet the Abbot of Glastonbury’. Dom Aelred had become titular abbot in 1976. The centuries vanished when I was ushered in to meet the black robed figure in what had been the abbatial mansion and we fell to discussing Abbot Bere’s terrier of Mells, one of the manuscript treasures of the house.
Another document we puzzled over was the curious and untranslated (perhaps untranslatable) Latin inscription round the top of the Norman font in Lullington church. He lost the copy of it which I gave him. I replaced it but the flash of inspiration for which he hoped never came. He proposed me for the Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society and when my candidature was rejected, wrote me the kindest and most encouraging letter. He himself was elected as an undergraduate, a fact of which he was rightly proud, and was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Dom Aelred was a successful and distinguished headmaster of Downside. To those of an historical bent, he was renowned as the editor of the outstanding Great Chartulary of Glastonbury in three volumes, 1946-1958, one of the most important publications of the Somerset Record Society and an indispensable tool for historians. He was elected as a Somerset representative on the SDNQ committee in 1949 and served with the legendary Abbot Horne. Dom Aelred was an assiduous attender at SDNQ meetings and contributed both wisdom and sound common sense to the running of the journal. He retired on becoming parish priest at Beccles in 1975.